Lot of Saffies signed in the last 6 months Myburgh.Jennings,Meschende,Rippon,Cooke,Delange,so expect Saffies to be raided the next 6 months despite the 7 year waiting time.
Hogan and Angus Robson Aussies signed,expect Stoinos and Fawcett to get county contracts.
Lot of players released,few have joined counties,look to 2nd division pros to join 1st division.
Let the games begin.

Never rated Jennings eventhough he captained SA u19. Biggest talent there is probably chinaman bowler Michael Rippon who joined Sussex.

Its starting already though. I believe 17 year-old Tom Curran who goes to Hilton College (same school Nick Compton went to) has left for England eventhough he was in the SA u17 training camp as part of the Cycle for the next u19 WC. Already playing Surrey 2nd XI. His father is former Zimbo & Northants player Kevin Curran.

I wonder if that's a by-product of the ECB's new 7 year qualification rule coming into play?

If a foreign-born UK national arrives in Britain before his 18th birthday he'll still only have to face a 4-year residency before being eligible for England. I guess that might make any waverers take the jump whereas before they might suck it and see if they get a go at a provincial side for a coupla years.

I'm sure there's loads of independent sixth form colleges ready to offer scholarships to promising SA cricketers with British passports.

"The PFA does not represent players when they have broken the law and been convicted on non-football matters."- Gordon Taylor in 2009 following Marlon King's release after a prison sentence for sexual assault & ABH

I don't think the 7 year role will stop counties signing S Africans it didn't last year.Roderick who signed with Gloucestershire is a Saffie.Fact is 2nd xl cricket is riddled with Saffies,Aussies and Europe players.Be interested if Marcus Stoinos signs with Kent,had a good year but chosen for Victoria 2nd xl,looks likely to have a run there.

i heard something (possibly related to saj mahmood) that Somerset were more interested in continueing to develop and give opportunities to the young guys (Dibble, OvertonC+J, Meschede. Gregory) because all had loads of potential rather than spending big on a pro. It might be a bit of a downer for some supporters given they'd have a really good chance of winning a championship with one more good fast bowler but long term it probably makes a decent amount of sense.

Lot of Saffies signed in the last 6 months Myburgh.Jennings,Meschende,Rippon,Cooke,Delange,so expect Saffies to be raided the next 6 months despite the 7 year waiting time.
Hogan and Angus Robson Aussies signed,expect Stoinos and Fawcett to get county contracts.
Lot of players released,few have joined counties,look to 2nd division pros to join 1st division.
Let the games begin.

what do we reckon the end game of the south africans coming over here is? I can see why at a young age with more counties= less competition, better wages etc coming over here is profitable........... but do we think once they get good they'll go back to SA (Du Plessis, Rudolph) and play state cricket and try and get in the test team........... or do we reckon they stay here.

i can envisage a problem where a few SA's come over here. play a load of cricket- get really experienced - take loads runs/wickets and then just go back to SA with the mass of experience. Then they get in the SA test team and make a load of runs especially against England. lol

And it's not like our counties are poaching these overseas players. Generally they come to England knowing that with 18 counties and a long season there is more opportunity to break into first class cricket and the wages offered to them are attractive.

Roderick for instance played for a localish club to me - Cheltenham as an overseas player. Broke a load of league runscoring records, played some 2nd xi for Glos, and then glos offered him a contract as a wicketkeeper batsman.

There is this misconception by people that English counties are just recruiting players from SA, AUS, whereever. When in fact it's the player that are attracted by the lack of competition and the attractive (and regular) wage packet. The players come here off there own back - the counties aren't ringing them up and say come here.

Egyptian its a case that the Saffies and Aussies have been schooled back home in their system and are better players than those in the local leagues eg Matt Linekar.Jack Brooks is an exception.Otherwise its overseas players,plus counties signing junior players from all of the UK.

To say the Counties are not keen,is a bit of an understatment. Some counties bring overseas players in and have a look at them in the 2nds. Plus there are talent scouts out there looking for talent,that said cricket agents spruke players with UK passports.For example Jake Fawcett has been spruked on facebook.So i'd say its predatory both ways.

I don't think the ECB is doing this but the counties certainly are.
Expect a bag;load of Saffies and Aussies to be signed up.
Just thank God that Australia has not signed a trade agreement with the EU,or there would be a flood of Aussie players coming through.

i heard something (possibly related to saj mahmood) that Somerset were more interested in continueing to develop and give opportunities to the young guys (Dibble, OvertonC+J, Meschede. Gregory) because all had loads of potential rather than spending big on a pro. It might be a bit of a downer for some supporters given they'd have a really good chance of winning a championship with one more good fast bowler but long term it probably makes a decent amount of sense.

RHB moves back to Sussex.

Somerset has probably the youngest and most promising bowling attack on the circuit, but IMO they need one extra senior bowler to hold things together and mentor them - its pointless chucking them out there on their own against hardened county pros, as talented as these guys are.

They've got Alfonso Thomas, but he misses the start of the season with the IPL and seems to pretty much be guaranteed an injury a year. That's where I think Charl Willoughby was perfect - he was an older guy, a workhorse and could mentor the up-and-comers.